


Mapping it Out to Figure it Out

by simplylinly



Category: Batman (Comics), Gotham Academy (Comics), Robin (Comics)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-12-04
Updated: 2016-09-22
Packaged: 2018-05-04 20:08:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5346956
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/simplylinly/pseuds/simplylinly
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“No.” Olive scolded and glanced at Pom and Maps. “We’re not doing this,”</p><p>“It’s better than sitting around doing nothing!” Pom was frustrated.</p><p>“It’s better we don’t get shot!” Olive is pretty smart.</p><p>“We need to be discreet then, smarter,” Maps tapped her chin, the layout of the school blooming in her mind, familiar and all of a sudden fascinating. And after that came a plan, and next to nothing could stop her.<br/>///<br/>Seeing that I've been wraking my brains for like a year trying to continue this, I've decided to leave the first chapter open ended so I can just transform this fic into a bunch of damimaps prompts because this shipis so pure and I really don't want one plotline to stop me from writing them <3 leave suggestions for future installments ^^</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Maps' is a hero

**Author's Note:**

> for tumblr prompts for Damimaps from an anon:  
> "Damian going to gotham academy because somone (i can't Think of any villian right now) is attacking the school, he arrives as soon as he can but somone (Maps) already has saved the night but she kind of gets injured because of that. Haha Damian would probably go full metal (like that time he made a mask with his own blood, calm down son) and getting a little protective with Maps because she does a lot of reckless things without caring about what happens next"

It was her fault.

Maps hadn’t been able to predict this, in the early morning grogginess of studying-but that morning at breakfast she had done the unthinkable.

She totally jinxed it.

“Oh no,” She muttered under her breath, eyes welling up with tears. Katherine cast her a worried look, her face had been paler than usual and her freckles stuck out starkly against it.

“What’s wrong?” Katherine whispered, eyes glancing nervously at the men before them, dressed in black assortments and really real guns. You know that red thing that sticks out of fake guns Maps had seen them from cosplayers and hardcore nerds? None in sight. and for once she actually felt…fear.

The gymnasium was packed with people, students pressed as far away from the armed men guarded the entrances and spoke into walkie talkies every once in a while. Most had been murmuring to their partners, comforting friends or full on silent. 

The security had improved over the years, and sadly this was the break in almost 6 years of students being held for ransom. Maps felt accountable and looked at Katherine with watery eyes.

“I wished anything would happen so I wouldn’t take Willingers test. But I didn’t mean this!” Maps whined dramatically, it was better than panicking in still silence and was worth the slight smile and exasperated sigh from her room mate.

“Maps, there’s no way that-,” Katherine fell silent, eyes focusing on something over Maps shoulder and she whipped around to see.

The juniors had flood in, pushed in roughly as the older students resisted. Among them she saw the familiar head of curly white hair and the brim of a visor in the crowd, Olive and Kyle walking along stiffly. Kyle’s hand clutched Olive’s tight as they moved with less fear in the freshman’s eyes and a familiar “done” expression she’d seen during exams. Maps was more delighted however, she’d assumed they’d be held else where and bonded forward to them when they joined the mass of freshman all squeaking in relief of the upper class.

-

“KyleOlive-oh it’s good you’re hereandalright!” Maps pulled the awkward teens both into a bone crushing hug, her brother and best friend were here. Olive complained and looked away from Kyle in his proximity but smiled at Maps, as did Kyle in fondness. 

“Are you okay?” Kyle asked as a good big brother and scanned her for injuries to which she nodded to distractedly.

Kyle patted the top of her head and nodded to Katherine kindly over her head as Olive turned the tables and held Maps at arms length for inspection.

“Same for me Maps, it’s good you’re not hurt,” Olive looked too tired to be held hostage today.

“POM!” Maps yelled, her attention now on the hooded team that staggered towards them with Heathercliff at tow her head down and a scowl. She certainly didn’t take kindly to the situation.

“Oh good you’re here, now all we need is tech support so we can beat off these nut jobs,” She grumbled, Heathercliff seemed happy to have his hand back. 

“Are you crazy?! They have guns!” Olive was typically all for adventure, but not when they were backed into a corner like this.

“We’ve done worse,” Pom insisted, glaring at the patrolling guards. She hated being powerless and crossed her arms stiffly.

“Pom, they have the entire school on lock down if we don't play it safe then...-Kyle tell her,” Olive said in a shaky calm tone, a hand tight on Maps shoulder as her amber eyes trailed the guards uneasily.

“We just need to stay put the police will be here soon,” Kyle crossed his arms, turning his body towards them to block them from any outsiders, fist clenched uneasily without the tennis racket at his side.

“They took our cellphones, and I bet they locked the teachers up somewhere tight,” Maps expression was thoughtful.

“No.” Olive scolded and glanced at Pom and Maps. “We’re not doing this,”

“It’s better than sitting around doing nothing!” Pom was frustrated.

“It’s better we don’t get shot!” Olive is pretty smart.

“We need to be discreet then, smarter,” Maps tapped her chin, the layout of the school blooming in her mind, familiar and all of a sudden fascinating. And after that came a plan, and then next to nothing could stop her.

-

Maps was the smallest and the fastest. So she was the best for vent crawling. 

It was fairly cliche but she hoped the baddies weren’t smart enough to have covered them. It was like pulling out teeth to convince them to let her do it, which ended with Maps making the decision for herself and prying the vent open with her batarang and scampering off when Kyle and Olive dozed off hours later. It was late at night, past curfew and Maps wished she could be under sheets with a flashlight and the Maps of a newly discovered Italian catacomb she’d printed out.

But alas.

She was there.

Maps jammed both feet into the vent cover, both arms bracing her on either side of the vent as she breathed shaken dust and fought the urge to cough. After a few times it clattered to the ground, and Maps had the chills from adrenaline.

She landed clumsily and she hissed as her ankle malfunction on her-she’d be feeling that in the morning, but for now she could ignore it. She smoothed out her skirt and gathered her bearings. If the hallway wasn’t guarded, she could make it to the 5th panel of lockers to hit the fire alarm. That way the Gotham Fire Department would come and Maps could only hope her planned hiding spot would keep her safe until they arrived.

Maps glanced out of the classroom window and cursed the fact that they were smart enough to have patrol guards walking by every now and then. Maps thought about things before she acted, even though it always seemed she hadn’t.

She thought of how long it’d take for someone to find out something was up with the school. She’d give it to tomorrow morning, but who knew what would happen in that time. Anyone smart would be in and out, but she knew there’d be about an hour or two for the men to sort out the pricier rich students form the poor scholarship kids and such. They’d already done that to the seniors, the ones whose future was just about to begin-that sob story was bound to get more money-and were then moving down the grades. Maps had time for anyone to notice she wasn’t there.

The teachers hadn’t been heard of, and realistically she had to hope for the best for them to be temporarily unconscious rather than permanently so. Maps other option of coming back to the gym may be noticed, and really she’d just sit there be sorted then separated….her brother was a junior with a tennis scholarship and she’d gotten in with her relation to him and decent exam grades. She tried not the think of who her parents would save if it was between the two of them, they weren’t very rich.

So she thought of a completely different plan, where she’d go to the teacher’s lounge to use the old timey phone she’d admired once passing by and use it to call the GCPD. 

But then she thought of the guards, and her clumsiness, hey likely hood of her skills against someone with a gun and the super basic karate classes she took when she was younger.

She thought of how great it would be if Batman simply swooped in right now to save them all. And she thought of the batarangs cool metal hanging as a weight in her skirt’s pocket. She took it out, her heart beating in her ears as she saw the beam of a flash light pass by.

Memories of that very breakfast, where Kathrine had grabbed her breakfast as she crammed for the test she didn’t get to tae, of Kyle’s good luck test and Olive’s insistence that she’d do fine. Pom offered to get her the cheat sheet, and with a glare from Olive she’d refused. She thought of when her heart beat this fast last time, when they’d found that zombie thing in that house, and when Olive talked to her about her mother. She thought of how bad Kathrine was with eyeliner when she first tried to used the liquid kind and Kyle letting her tag along when he hung out with his older cooler friends. The first time she met Olive through him and the one tie she felt extremely proud she solved a puzzle to get them somewhere.

But most of all she thought of how much she loved her friends.

She ran her thumb along the batarang’s dulled edge. Then she thought about being her own hero.

Either way she acted.

-

Damian had been on patrol, it was 10:39 and it was one of the few solo patrols he’d ever gone on. Batman was….away. As proud as he was to be trusted on solo patrol, he wouldn’t admit to Grayson that he liked being around his father much less then with him.

“Tt-,”

Grayson didn’t matter now. He was “dead” apparently. 

Robin harshly brought his foot down into a crooks’ face.

He wasn’t about bothered it at all.

Another thug got a fist in the teeth, and he easily ignored the sting in his hand as it met bone. He finished them off after that with less force, and tied them to each other mindlessly pushing the GCPD into phone to inform them for pick up.

So maybe he was upset. He could admit he held nothing but respect and the occasional annoyance for Grayson. Love perhaps, more than the mother he once had “loved”.

Damian sat the edge of Wayne Tower after the city had quieted some like the calm before the storm. His fingers fiddle with the com in his ear, fine tuning the frequency of the the police radar he had access to. It was too quiet. 

His feet hung off the edge and in the big city he finally felt himself feel small. Alone sure. But strong in body and mind. Why wasn’t it enough? He felt a hollow feeling in his chest.

“Hello?! Hello someone?!” Damian snapped out of his thoughts, and turned up the volume again in his com. Someone was in trouble, he was already rising to his feet. 

“Hello, yes this is 911 who’s speaking?”

“I’m a student at Gotham Academy-we’re being held hostage-“

“Is this a prank call kid, isn’t pass your curfew?-“

“I don’t have time to joke, my friends are being sorted through for ransom and there are people afte-“ Other voices are heard on the other end, upset and approaching.

“Ple-Please help us,” The girl begs in a whimper, it takes a lot to talk when you’re being hunted.

Damian swung building to building on his grapple, heart pounding as he continued to listen and head to the academy. This wasn’t the first time he had to make up for that old place’s troubles. Typical. He’d tell father of the lack of security there when he returned.

There was banging on the other end and panicked breathing the poor girl sounded like she was on the verge of an anxiety attack.

“Okay okay kid, tell me where you are-what’s your name? Stay calm,”

Fat load of help the operator was being-Damian moved faster just to save this girl form the incompetent man. The world speed by him.

“My name Mia Mizoguchi,I’m in the teacher’s lounge and I really really don’t want to di-“ Her words were cut off by a scream, of fear or attack he didn’t know but his world grinder to a halt as his breath got caught in his chest. Of course it’d be her.

-

“Why weren’t you watching her?!” Kyle was going insane.

“Me?! YOU’RE her brother!” Olive shot right back.

“We voted against her plan, she shouldn’t have even gone in the first place!” Pom growled, regretting she’d brought up action in the first place.

“I didn’t think she’d go alone, I went to get water and-“ Katherine whimpered, eyes filled with tears that oozed out of her eyes and down her cheeks.

“Katherine it isn’t your fault, it’s these jerks fault for taking her cell phone, I can’t track her!” Colton hated being helpless.

They were getting stares, old voices and arguments brought eyes, and Colton scoffed in annoyance. Kyle had gone pale and pushed his mouth into a line. He’d failed his little sister. Pom had guilt eating at her and paced because of it, poor Katherine was blubbering with Colton’s terrible rage.

Olive took a shaky breath, forcing herself to climb down for Kyle’s sake and put a hand on his shoulder.

“All we can do…is wait,”

-

It’d been a gunshot that caused Maps to scream and scamper away fro the phone and the antique hung limply, they knew she was there from the shot obviously-had she been too loud? Or simply biding her time.

Maps had armed herself with a letter opener she found lying around and pressed herself against the back of the ratty couch, cruelly forced to face the window with panes she doubted she could smash through without them immediately spotting her. The moon was full and she dully remarked upon it, eyes wide with fear and hand clenching the dull makeshift weapon. The batarang was meant for throwing and she couldn’t really hold it like a knife and not cut herself so she kept it close but not drawn. It’d be her secret weapon.

She could hear footsteps of heavy boots and held her breath, wincing slightly as the door was kicked open. There was a pause, then whoever or whom ever they were moved forward.

Maps hadn’t been sorted yet. She felt little comfort knowing they wouldn’t kill her before measuring her worth, after that well…she didn’t have much time. She held the letter opener painfully tight. She reasoned with her racing thoughts, she’d lived an okay life, She had loving friends family….and well she’d been noticed by Batman-or Damian Wayne, but that was definitely a highlight. She’d met Robin, she’d comforted Katherine and sorta been successful in getting Kyle and Olive together.

A crash of a cabinet been opened harshly made her inhale sharply. Kyle and Olive would be there for each other, to look after each other. And for a moment she wished she had someone that wasn’t a glorified hero she’d never met to care for her just this once. She closed her eye just for a moment and prayed for something, prayed to gods she didn’t believe in for something.

“HEY!” 

Oh no, she kept her eyes squeezed she, tears running down her face. “MOVE,“ She urged her body, she was brave, she had to be as brave as she hot she was, move-fear had paralyzed her and she wanted nothing more than the world to stop so she could cry away the fear closing up her throat.

A gun was pointed at her when she opened her eyes and it was thrust forward harshly, a man with a five o’ clock shadow and more importantly a gun growled at her.

“Drop it,” Maps didn’t have a choice, so much for grabbing a weapon, she listened and put her hands up in sad surrender.

“Good girl….now turn around-I know your type, Dan go check her she’s got pockets in that ugly ass skirt,” Maps had hardly noticed the goons looking at him for orders. She’d forgotten how small she was, how frail her arms were in gym, how she always put up a happy front and latched onto anything she found interesting, it helped her not to think too hard about herself.

But now she was aware of what they’d say if they found the batarang in her pocket, the accusations they’d fling at her-even demand Batman for her, and then she thought of how little in this world she was. She thought of how she wanted her last stand to be.

When the man approached her and ran his hands over her she simply reacted, grabbing the batarang and forcefully slashing at him-blood was drawn and she was sure some of it was hers but she didn’t care. She couldn’t react much afterwards though, she felt something collide with her temple-the butt of his gun and crumpled still catching her only weapon.

She saw spots and saw other things in her mind, her mother’s eyes and Kyle’s calm smile, and really thought this was it. 

Then there was a shadow in the room that grew bigger on the floor near her and she thought oh a bird flying by-until the glass window shattered in smithereens and she saw a blur of color. It was hard staying conscious with a pounding head and a fuzzy feeling in her ears. So she gave in.

-

Damian wasn’t going to loose someone again.

He lost it when he approached the school not even in it and saw her already fallen. His hope had left him as his mind proclaimed her dead and he saw red.

He was in motion already, crushing the window with momentum and launched himself at the men who’d barely gathered themselves. Guns were being fired and he twisted and snarled at this. How dare they shoot at him. How dare they take a friend from him. How dare they.

If Batman was here he’d stop him, and Damian was thankful for his lonesome that night, Grayson would’ve had a fit and Father would’ve grounded him. But he took them out with ruthless efficiency and speed, bones breaking with roughness and strength coming from rage. the one that’d been there were down and then more came fro the frantic squeaks of the cheap walkie talkies they carried-but that didn’t matter much.

His breathing was sharp and hard, and he felt on the edge of a panic attack as he held man by the neck and poised a fist to bludgeon but he world screeched to a halt as he heard a helicopter blade-and what would follow to be police sirens as he regained his normal heart rate and glared at the man’s cut face.

He retracted his arm and prepared himself for the worst. His mind was reeling and he cursed himself for being so tactful as he rushed to her side. Her pulse under his gloved fingers was a huge relief and he felt so foolish as he felt his eyes water slightly as he held her slightly, warm, alive and mainly unhurt. He had her. And with the few people in his life, he closed his covered eyes and sighed. That had to mean something.

-


	2. Urgent Matters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maps call for reinforcements. Damian doesn't hesitate to come.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ///
> 
> Apologies for my absence, and the rude change of pace =.=' I am to blame for my terrible habits, but I thought if people had followed or knew this fic for damimaps then they wouldn't mind more content for this under rated ship-enjoy!

It was early Sunday morning for Damian Wayne and the end of patrol for Robin till dusk when he received a phone call on his personal cell.

“Mizoguchi need I remind you this is a confidential line-” Damian drawls as he easily answers through his earpiece, wind rushing past him as he swung through Gotham suburbs. He’s not nearly as annoyed as he tries to sound, and hadn’t even need to looked at caller ID when he heard the first chimes of “Oops I did it Again” play.

“Nonono, this is serious-Robin I need back up!” 

“I’m on my way,” He clipped back and she hung up. Maps frantic voice sent a chill to his gut and he changed course in mid air. He began to mentally prepare himself for what the academy and Maps’ “Detective Club” had gotten themselves into this time.

-

Damian swung into a room full of yelling and noise, thankfully not breaking any glass because Maps always forgot to latch her windows. He skidded on a throw blanket and rolled to a halt crunching on some white things-wall plaster, chalk, bone?!

...popcorn.

His senses were peaked, having come as fast as his grappling could carry him and ready for a fight, but was met with a surprised scream and the oddly pale lighted faces of Maps and her classmate’s whose names he pretended to forget. Everyone had jumped, and not only him from propelling airborne into the room, they were all huddled against the wall with the window in a mass mess of blankets-all falling silent but Mizoguchi herself that was still talking loudly into a phone, was she calling someone else for help?!

“-I need you on this Duke, don’t you flake on me-oh wait prime R’s here-I’ll deal with you later-Hey Robin!” She hung up phone and jumped to her feet excitedly and untangled herself from the group in all her pajama-ed, fuzzy socked glory, as Damian’s adrenaline slowly faded into a roar of anger. 

“Mizoguchi that number is not a joke, I entrusted you wit-” He began to growl, knowing he shouldn’t seen this coming from someone so childish, someone so arrogantly naive-

“WAit, wait-before you bite my head off just answer me this!” She held up her hands in surrender, her friends watching in awe and horror of his rage and her boldness.

“What on Earth could possibly-?!” He started with a snarl.

“PINEAPPLE IS A VALID PIZZA TOPPING!!!” Maps yelled at the top of her lungs, hands balled into fist at her sides and eyes screwed shut and face flushed in effort.

Damian….took a second to process that. His eyebrows rose comically into his hairline in disbelief, the whites of his mask going as wide as they could as he just stared at his mad, crazy intelligent, sorta-friend.

Her chest heaved and she looked around, face now burning with embarrassment as she looks around her trashed room, candy wrappers everywhere, popcorn crushed into the carpet as she realizes what she’d done in the heat of a stupid argument with her friend. 

A breeze shut the window abruptly in the silence.

“OhgodI’msosorry,” She blurted out, covering her mouth and looking at him with her doe like eyes.

Damian could almost see the sugar high drain out of her as she looked at the floor, and he was flooded with guilt for yelling at her like that-it wasn’t as if this was the first time they’d met up through that number for fun, in fact it was a joke by now with all the times they’d hung out. She was one of his few civilian “friends” that he actually regarded as a friend, one that barged into his life with an interest in Robin and not Damian Wayne Damian Al Ghul. 

And perhaps she wasn’t professional when she saw him in his chosen persona, but she had always made him proud of it and himself with her enthusiasm. So he did the logical thing anyone would do.

“Of course it is Mizoguchi, now why wouldn’t it be?”

Maps entire being lit up at his nonchalant words, bright eyes shining with relief (and not unshed tears) as she rounded on her friends with a flourished, their shocked figured changing to confusion in a heartbeat.

“HA! I told you~” She pointed at them wildly striking a ridiculous pose, causing some of them to sigh and unclench now the ship steered away from tense and dangerous. 

Silverlock remain uncomfortable and was the first to break the silence by picking up the remote and pressing play for the movie to start back up, amber eyes pointedly ignoring him.

“I hoped this Robin would have taste with more black on his costume, but you two can be wrong in your bright and happy piss colored world,” Pom prompted flopping back down to turn her attention the movie, seemingly deciding to ignore the shunned super hero.

“Not you too, how can we live in a world where you can put fruit on pizza!!!” The one in glasses gestured intensely, holding his head in disbelief at him, the situation and how anyone could just turn on the TV with a super hero in their dorm.  
“There has always been fruit on pizza, tomato sauce is an essential ingredient,” Robin dismissed, half smiling as Maps jumped on the spot, several following his words with “ooohs” and “GET SERVED SON.” Maps’ brother shrugged and leaned back tiredly next to the now red sun glasses boy, clapping him on the back weakly.

“Let it go man, pizza is the people’s right,” 

Glasses guys pouted and crossed his arms, apparently “letting it go” as he fell back as well complaining about unfair stakes. The groups attention pointedly at the movie, Maps surged forward and presented him two hands up, asking for high fives, a thrilled smile on her face.

“NICE going R!”

He returned them half heartedly after drawing up his hood suddenly feeling very out of place and very worried about someone checking on them from all the commotion. Gloved hands met bare and Map leaned forward and dropped her excitement and her voice.

“I’m super sorry about this man, I thought it’d be funny if you just peeked in through the window I wasn’t thinking-” She said hurriedly, already moving back to the window. It always a custom for her to escort him back to where he jumped in from in mock “politeness”. Something swelled in Damians’ chest and his eyes softened behind his mask as their hands dropped and she went to open the window for him, part of him wishing he could stay.

“‘t’s fine Maps,” He said not looking at her but at her cozy room and even cozier school mates enraptured by some terrible movie Stephanie had made him watch once.

“Just don’t hang up on me-or call me like that-you know it wasn’t funny,” His voice dropped lower and into the voice he tried to make sound like his Father’s, regarding her harshly to ignore the feeling of loneliness he’d never confirm.

Maps pursed her lips, truly sorry and put a hand on his shoulder without thinking, before realizing she did and jerking it away-he was Robin, he probably didn’t like touching.

“I know,” She affirmed seriously eyes downcast. The moment stretched into silence as Robin made no move, his chest crushed with an unidentifiable weight. This arrangement was weird, this friendship is Damian could ever count it as his, would always have this. That fear, that paranoia-the thing that kept Father’s daytime and nighttime personalities so separate.

Maps looked up then tried for a smile, not noticing anything go by. “I’ll make it up to you, text you for a movie! We could do it here or where ever you want to, whenever-I promise! I won’t even ask you about missions or Robin’s stuff, just….Hang out like teenagers okay?” With every word her smile grew brighter, her genuinity seeping into Damian was a warm ray of sunshine.

His chest was lighter and felt himself smile, then snapped back into character to take out his grapple gun and avert his eyes-clearing his throat to make a point.

“I’ll be in touch,” His mouth said curtly, and he pressed the trigger and shot forward and into the night, away from Maps and her normal high school friends-hearing her goodbyes and knowing she was waving frantically behind him.

He turned red thinking about his abrupt exit as he made the familiar way home, and even redder knowing that Maps still thought the world of him anyways. And he took this thought with him home, buried away and sealed in secret all the way past Robin to just Damian, alone in bed and still red from thinking about an amazing girl.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> /// OuO so did you like that? would you like more????? heh it's totally rushed and written to avoid my history homework so I'll take criticism, so send in comments and stuff for future installments maybe??????????????? yes? no??? maybe???lol


	3. Do stars have feelings?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is definitely set int eh future of damimaps (?) where they are both older, more mature and more confident in their relationship. I love the idea of them being room mates at a time and I adore the idea of Damian moving out of the manor to attend college. The circumstances are mentioned in passing and one day I will explore all those fun domestic ideas int he future but for now have some feels i didn't even know I had in store. These two are just too pure <3 u<3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I read a damimaps fic before bed, and guess what I'm not in bed! Huge kudos to Imposter party by @sebastinoodle !!! I highly recommend giving it a read! Thanks for inspiring to finish this random oneshot fic! I've had this since I published the last chapterand it started with the beginning dialogue and got pretty heavy afterwards so I didn't know about posting it, and it's un beta-ed and done by someone who should be asleep rn XD-nevertheless, enjoy!!

“Do you think stars have feelings?”

“...Maps, go to sleep,”

“No, wait hear me out,” 

She rolls over to her side to face him.

“I mean think about what we think of them, they’re a huge a cultural thing-all people have got something to say about them,”

He sighs. In defeat or annoyance, either way she continues.

“What if they’re alive? Wouldn’t it be weird if they could hear us?”

“I’ve wished for some pretty strange things….I wonder if they’re sick of us. Us puny humans asking for ponies and robotic dinosaurs….”

“....”

“Since we could think I bet someone's’ wished on them, the Disney movies must’ve given them load of junk mail,”

She has a point but no one will admit it. She silent for so long Damian's’ sure she’s gone back to sleep. She rolls over away from him and he thinks she’s given up.

“............”

“....D’ya think we make them sad? I mean some people have had it bad Dami...People wish for things, and people die….”

“There are so many of us…...humans I mean. And biologically and mathematically we are just…...so small...Dami,”

Her voice is weak and her eyes glisten as they stare at the white lights of stars from the window. And Damian is suddenly acutely aware that this is the first time she’s ever been to space, how that left his mind just shows how good Maps is at taking things in stride.

He grunts and sits up, the blanket shuffling in the silence and scoots closer to her, lightly touching her shoulder. She doesn’t move, only sighs through her nose and closes her eyes. 

He studies her face intently leaning over her and sliding his hand up and down her bare arm, the permanent nighttime paling her features so her freckles and glistening eyes stuck out sharply on pale skin. Some would call her face girlish or youthful, but to Damian, it was simply Maps’ face-complete with bags under big eyes and speckles across her nose. Pretty face, with a pretty soul. He slides his hand to her neck and back down to her shoulder, rubbing at knots he knows gets when she’s stressed. She rolls onto her stomach contentedly to give him more access. 

They’ve both grown up since childhood then teenhood, mentally and physically. And they’ve grown together, in friendship then companionship as they lived together in college. 

Maps’ Detective Club days may be long over but she continued to be on the lookout for mysteries and trouble, which was convenient with a superhero as your flat mate (now that was an enlightening discussion). Initially he claimed to only room with her to keep her out of trouble, and to gain independence away from the Manor but the bottom line became clear when they both had to figure out how to cook for themselves. Growing up Maps’ had been focused on adventures and mad police chases, taxes and bills had hardly crossed her mind. Damian with the mind of an entrepreneur and an empire practically promised to him at birth, didn’t know how to do laundry or work their ancient dishwasher.

It was a strange comfortable pattern they had, with Maps’ understandings of his night life and their separate quests to finish college. Maps would cook dinner and Damian would serve breakfast (or at the very least leave a fresh pot of coffee before he walked out of the door). They grocery shopped together on weekends or ordered them together online. Maps was often awake when he arrived home from patrol working relentlessly on whatever she was up to, and only took a break to patch him up before he passed out. Maps seemed to be allergic to mornings and slept through all schemes she made up the night before (including multiple alarm clocks and buckets of water) so Damian would personally make sure she was up when she needed to be. They fit together so they stayed together, living together even if the other was absent for a while they’d come back from their trips and settle once again (ex. Damian’s trips into outer space or missions with the League or Titans). They respected and admired each other, teased and comforted each other. And so they platonically and later romantically loved each other.

“...Do you want to talk about this Mia?” He kneads the taut muscles in her neck, voice cautious and mind reviewing just how dangerous his recent mission had been for her to have been allowed into the Watchtower. Turns out alternate versions of you knew where to hit, and she had been in the crossfire of the Dark Justice League on their own universe’s.

Maps pillow her chin with her arms and wrinkles her nose.

“Don’t call me that here. Or anywhere. You sound like my parents,” She chuckles dryly tickled by the idea of them knowing anything about where she is now. With her disappearance she knows she’d get a phone call from Kyle and even Olive given that they were to see a movie sometime this week. Damian scoffs but doesn’t refute she’s not in the mood for playful arguments.

“Maps then. Do you want to talk about it?” He sits on her lower back to get a better angle and she hums in thought. He still doesn’t know exactly what “it” is, but if it's bothering her then it was important to him. She gathers her thoughts and he is patient to receive them.

“I do. But it sounds stupid and self conscious,” Maps is honest and Damian loves that about her. Romance isn’t as confusing with clear communication.

“You are not stupid and don’t deserve to feel self conscious, habibi,” He answers smoothly, pressing a kiss to the back of her neck that makes her squirm and smile. She snickers at his sappiness, a side she is glad to call hers and not known to many she treasures. She moves to roll over and Damian moves with her still straddling her lower half loosely, she lays back facing him and catches his hands, to squeeze and hold near her chest.

“I know Dami… I also know that there is an infinite universe with infinite versions of everyone and everything in said universe-the world is so big,” She runs her thumb over his knuckles as she talks, and Damian knows this usually helps her think, having something to do with her hands. 

“I know that you get to see so much of it, in space, with magic, and whatever crazy batshit from work or the League….Hell why do you think I’m so glad you come home-even I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t-! You get to see so much and be so much more than any of us little guys,” 

Maps may stick her nose into mafia activity in their neighborhood, or have messenger pigeons on the roof to help correspondence with the Robins in Gotham. But he has seen so much, done so much in this world that it’s hard to comprehend. He was THE Robin, going to be THE Batman-THE Damian Wayne, previously the Damian Al Ghul. It was mind boggling, fascinating that he even wanted to go to college in Gotham of all places to live with HER of all people.

“I don’t know if I’m jealous or scared you’ll never come back.” She finishes honestly, confused with herself and tired after a long days of monitoring your boyfriend fight an alternate version of himself. It was bewildering how she could just beam up to a freaking spaceship and pull that up on the TV. The League had been lovely, if not strange company and she had to hold her tongue from delving into full fan girl mode out of her own pride. It still showed and she struck up many conversations. She felt silly, a quivering child in the face of all of it, she would never really feel like confident adult.

“It’s…it’s reasonable you would feel this way,” Damian feel clumsy, but is going through the steps in his head-acknowledge their feelings and make them feel valid. “I apologize for my absences, and I’ll try to stay more often…” Maps sits up suddenly, hands and mouth flapping about him with anxiety.

“Don’t apologize! You’re out there doing so much good! I am so happy that you do what you do-I’m so proud to have you in my life Dami.” She assures him, because Maps’ is anything but selfish and she knows that heros are needed even far away from her. She holds his face in her hands and looks him firmly in the eye. She doesn’t want him to stop being a hero, not that she thinks she could, hell she even acts as one in her own little part of Gotham-but Damian’s been specially trained since birth and could help other planets while she fed stray cats at home. Now she’s older she’s stopped being suicidal in thinking she should throw her life and safety away for the thrill of capes and been smarter in how she helps. 

She squeezes his cheeks together and smiles, because he looks silly cupping his face lightly and giggling after she’s had her fun.

But someone's got to don the mask, and it’s clear that one day Damian will trade his in for a cowl. And that terrifies her, like it terrifies her every time he leaves for patrol or mission with just as much chance of coming home as not. It got to her today, particularly because it’s her first time in space. 

“I care about you Dami, like, really really….I love you,” There’s a lump in her throat now and she thinks that this is why Alfred hopes Bruce will retire early. Damian grips her wrist to keep her hands there and understands. There is something close to relief in his stomach, but a foreboding sense of something they both know but won’t breach.

Damian’s always been a little stunned when people were affectionate with him, but now he’s older it’s always followed by graciousness. Maps was always affectionate, always giving, always loving, in sticky notes left on the kitchen counter, in texts asking what he wanted to order out, in hand holding and hugging him not to annoy him but to show him. That she loved him. That he was something that could be loved. Him and his messed up childhood, him, and the mask and cape.

“You just worry,” He states firmly soothing her by grabbing her hands on his face and pressing a kiss to each palm and moving them to his heart as if she could feel it’s weary lightness, his spirit fluttering in his stomach the way only she could draw out.

She sniffs and takes back a hand to wipe her eyes, smiling watery and putting it back not quite looking at him.

“Yeah….Silly old me, worrying up a storm….Hell, you’re saving galaxies and I’m worried about what movie we see on date night! Isn’t that silly?! I feel...so silly…” She hiccups and now she’s crying fully, something Damian hates seeing but something he’s been all the way through to see to the last tissue. 

Maps was an emotional person. She tended to outline her happiness in high lighter, the way she wrote on her planner for things she looked forward to. However, things like dentist appointments were scrawled away in small print and written in a rush. It wasn’t a perfect system, but he preferred seeing her cry now then later in a panic attack, it’d been awhile since she got those.

“You’re not silly,” Damian whispers, wrapping his arms around her. He’s patient as ever, holding her closet to him gently, like she was the most important thing in the world, and he aches as she aches in sobs.

“You’re intelligent and brave, you know what’s really out there and you don’t like risking it… You are the smartest person I know, and the kindest, Maps I thank the universe for making you-and I thank you for loving me because I never thought I would fall in love with someone who’d love me and understand me like you do….” He doesn’t know if he’s saying the right thing but he’s more concentrated on his breathing, slow and steady as Maps comes down from her anxiety and tries to copy it, her body quaking and fighting itself to match him.

It takes some time, and for once Damian can’t tell with the perpetual night of space, but he doesn't move until she does. Her face is still wet and shining from the moonlight, her eyes are puffy and her nose is runny but her small genuine smile is still as beautiful as ever and he kisses her sweetly on the forehead and brushes away from stray hairs.

Maps doesn’t talk much after episodes, she thinks too much about making anyone else sad or worried with on sad and worried thoughts and he doesn’t push. She moves away to grab a tissue and blow her nose, wiping her face with a towel he’d brought with him after his shower, knowing he’s watching her. She used to find it unnerving, but now it’s familiar and securing.

She joins him in bed, he shifts to his side (closest to the door, so she could be near the window) and they settle as they both get under the covers. She scoots loser to him and he lifts up his arm as she settles on her side to hug him as her “security teddy bear”. She rests the side of her face on his chest and sighs deeply, giving him a squeeze. 

Damian closes his eyes feeling better now she does and doesn’t open them when she speaks. 

“Good night Damian,”

“Good night habibi,”

He feels her smile against his pec and wait till she drifts off to sleep before letting himself follow.

For tonight, they were both done with worry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> their in love i a really pure way that makes me really happy to write, Maps loves him but loves that he does what he does and risks it all-but it would get worrying at times. She thinks the world deserves him just as much a she does, an respects his legacy. I love their love. Would you guys be interested in this futuredamimapsau? i haven't run it by anyone but I quite like it lot, let me know what you think. Thank you all so much for 50 kudos and the comments! they really encourage me to write another installment to this unplanned mess of damimaps feels ^^'

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't quite figured out the ending, but here's more to come to full fill more prompts in one plotline sort of deal-thanks for the prompt!


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